“I feel amazing, I can’t really explain the feeling. It’s my first time making it that far in my basketball career,” said Stephon Marbury, who almost delivered a triple-double with 30 points, nine rebounds and eight assists on Sunday to down his former team.

It will be the first Finals berth for Marbury in either the NBA or CBA. The 35-year-old couldn’t contain his emotions, bursting into tears after the game and crying on coach Min Lulei’s shoulder in the locker room.

Marbury spent almost ten minutes leaning against the bathroom wall with his hands covering his tear-stained face before facing the media in a packed locker room.

Since landing in the league in 2010 with Shanxi, Marbury has vowed he would claim a championship. It’s always been a longshot, with the seven-time champion Guangdong Southern Tigers standing in the way.

“Since I came, I said it was my goal to make the final,” Marbury said. “A lot of people called me crazy. Some of my friends said ‘I don’t know if it will happen’. This team, they showed me something totally different from those that I’ve been on. I saw something inside of the players that I never seen before as far as the guys want to reach the finals.”